Back In The Game
by C. O. Rosette
Summary: "It wasn't a very sunny day on the day I met the Warners." It's been over a decade since the cancellation of the 90s show, Animaniacs, and the Warners and their friends were doing fine at first. But legacies continue as times rapidly change, and some people aren't quite as good at adapting as others. It seems the Warners are on their last legs, just struggling to get by. Will they?
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't a very sunny day on the day I met the Warners. Although it wasn't very cloudy either. I guess you could say it was basically the typical weather that your average, sea-bearing, pirate-esque, cargo ship would be found dwelling around in. Don't think about asking me what a junior psychiatrist-in-training like myself would be doing on a pirate ship. It's a bit of a complicated story which will eventually be retold over the course of this one, so don't fear. You'll find out in time.

So, on this particular day I was pacing around the ship, looking for the various sea rats that always used to burrow around the deck and setting traps around the whole ship but especially the cargo hold. It was the job given to me by the ship's strict captain, though I'm really not much of an exterminator. My first day on the job, I set a rat trap in an area just a bit too close to the regular pathway of the storage hold and when one of the other crew-mates accidentally stepped on it, he knocked over about twenty barrels of alcohol. Let's just say the aftermath of that wasn't very pretty and the captain and other shipmates weren't the happiest campers about having to clean up the mess. Still, for some strange reason, they kept me as ship exterminator. In all honesty, I think it might be because they didn't really care about whether or not I killed any rodents. They just wanted to keep me occupied with a job so I didn't ruin anything else while we're still reaching our much coveted destination.

As I was saying, the day I met the Warners, I was busy pacing the ship's deck. I didn't really notice when the two, small... uh... _things _just appeared out of nowhere from behind some wooden, storage boxes. I had heard earlier rumors that there was a suspicion about stowaways on board with us, though I sort of just dismissed them as idle gossip. If there were stowaways, I'd've seen at least a trace of them, right? Well, that's at least what I initially thought before I knew how stealthy the Warners were.

Well, I saw these two, weird-looking, dog-like creatures pop up in front of me. They were very short, the size of seven-year-olds at most. They had black fur and pale, white faces that seemed uncharacteristically sad and gloomy about something given their light-hearted appearances. One of them was wearing a red cap and a baby blue turtleneck that was way too big on him and no pants. The other had a daffodil in her hair and a pink skirt and no shirt. I assumed they were brother and sister. You may expect this to be a big shock or frightening or even something that would make me question all that was real in the first place, but my grandfather, the infamous-but-long-since-retired p-sychiatrist at Warner Bros. Studios, had had to deal with many of the varying and bizarre cartoons-come-to-life that were stuck there.

As soon as these two saw me their faces went from saddened to horrified. They were probably hoping to not get caught. "AAAAAAUGH!" they screamed, their mouths open insanely wide and the one with the red cap's eyes popped out in a ridiculously illogical fashion. Boy was I in for it. They turned tail and fled, running in place for a few seconds before eventually taking off with sweat flying off their faces in fear, once again keeping with their cartoonish manner.

As they disappeared around the corner, I thought about reporting these two stowaways whom I had originally accepted as not even real to the captain, but then decided against it. I had no initial respect for the captain, just as he had none for me, so why complicated matters even further by adding an extra leg, or in this case, two extra legs. Besides, there was something about the looks on the two, little dog-kids' faces that just made me instinctively take immediate pity on them. It wasn't just their adorably miserable faces that convinced me, though. There was just something weird about the design on these kids. They seemed so familiar, like I knew them from somewhere. I just didn't know where. But it made me want to help them with whatever it was that bothered them. So help them I would. Boy was I in for it.

I started after the dog, cat, chupacabra, whatever things. I thought I saw them run through a door and down into what I was guessing was the ship's cellar, though I was thoroughly confused as I usually thought the door down to the cellar was on the whole other side of the ship. I ran down the stairs after them anyway, but when I reached the bottom, I wasn't in the cellar at all. All I could see was a hallway with a row of five doors on each side and a very detailed painting of the captain's much coveted treasure on the far wall. It was a little unnerving as I had never noticed this room before. I sure hoped it wasn't some kind of ploy.

The kids were nowhere to be found. I decided they had to be in one of the rooms, obviously, so I picked random door and opened it. Did I regret opening it afterwards! There was someone living there!

I know what I should've done. I should've apologized profusely and closed the door as quickly as I could. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it, for sitting there on the bed, was a very pretty, tan-skinned brunette. She winked at me. I stood in the doorway, too paralyzed to move already feeling sweat starting to creep down my back. The brunette stood up and started walking very slowly toward me.


	2. Chapter 2

I stood there, stunned, unable to move. The beautiful woman inched closer and closer to me with every drawn out step. I could feel the sweat starting pouring down my face as she drew nearer. I stopped breathing. The heat intensified. Soon she was just an inch away from me, the cool, ocean breeze blew the window and pushed her long, dark hair from the sides of her hips until it just barely brushed the hem of my torn jeans. My head swam. Suddenly realizing I hadn't been breathing, I frantically opened my mouth, sucking in a tanksworth of air into my lungs. The smell of strawberry, kiwi scented perfume and half-baked, blueberry muffins hit my nose immediately after I let my breath go.

"Why so worked up?" she teased in a breathy, seductive voice. I still wasn't able to find movement in my legs, no matter how hard I willed them to budge. I was trapped there. The girl slowly brought up her hand, flashing her baby, blue fingernails. "Just relax. Here, I'll help you." Her body was brushing up on mine now, leaving me no where to run even if I could move. She reached toward my face, her colored fingers heading straight for my nose.

In that moment, my urging to leave stopped. I forgot the stiffness of my legs as well as my inability to challenge inertia. My logical thinking finally kicked in through my panicking subconscious. What was this!? This creep had her hands all over me! I angrily tore out of the stranger's arms. I could have left a long time ago. The door had been right behind me the whole time! Turning around, I hastily thrust it open and walked back out into the hall. "Hey! Chill out, dude!" I heard her call out from behind me. Without saying a word, I briskly turned around to see her about to chase after me. By now I was convinced she wasn't even real. She had to be some sort of ghostly temptress in disguise or a siren of some sort who haunts this ship in her own nonexistent hallway. Just as she was about to reach me, I slammed the door as hard in her face as I could.

After I'd dealt with the temptress, I immediately turned heal and made my way back down the fake hall, up it's fake stairs, and up onto the unimaginary deck, happy to be on something that wasn't an illusion. I didn't even bother to check any of the other doors for those strange creatures. I knew now that the hall was just a setup to mess with my head and lead me in circles so I'd lose their trail. It was a classic trick for cartoons like them. They had many tricks. The hallway one was a classic. My grandfather had shown me how to tell when I'm being messed with by cartoons.

At first I was enraged by the mere fact that a pair of little kids would try to manipulate someone who's training to be a psychiatrist, but I quickly came back to my senses as I reminded myself that they were just kids, stowaway kids that were probably in trouble anyway judging by the look on their faces when I first saw them. They'd have most likely been using their tricks to keep out of sight of the crew and the sight of me spotting them was what I figured had really frightened them.

I felt like I needed to know what was going on. I didn't care what it took. I knew I had to find those kids again, or whatever they were. Yes, they could indeed have been kids that I saw on deck. I knew what I had seen. On one hand, I knew that what I had seen was a pair of hopeless-looking, dog-like things. But on the other, I also knew that what I had seen was a pair of two clever cartoons who so obviously knew how to use their abilities to their advantage. They could have been little demons from the bermuda triangle that now haunt our ship. They could have been stealing from the ship's inventory. If not, maybe they were waiting for the captain to finally find our much coveted treasure first before stealing it from him. Maybe they were escaped convicts that did something horrible and then framed someone for it while in disguise of something else, just as that toon in L.A. had disguised himself as a human and then framed that rabbit guy. Whatever they were and whatever it was that I had seen, I still felt this spark of responsibility for the situation. Whatever theses things were, they were doing something important and in secret and as the only crew member to actually know of them, I felt I needed to get to the bottom of the situation.

That left the question on what exactly I should do about it. I couldn't tell the captain or any of the rest of the crew for that matter. They'd never believe me. They probably already thought I was nuts anyway. The current whereabouts these two cartoons were unknown at the current moment. It would be nearly impossible to find them again, especially when they'd already been spotted. They were going to try extra hard now just so they won't be seen again.

I had to use my grandpa's knowledge and what he had taught me about cartoons. Also, as a junior psychiatrist in training, I might have been able to use my abilities to get into the minds of the two creatures. Then I realized how hard that would be as I wasn't all too sure exactly what they were. They could really be anything. Just as I started brainstorming on exactly how I might see them again I heard a sound coming from behind me. I turned around...and there they were...


	3. Chapter 3

I stared at the two creatures a little longer. They continued to stare at me. But they didn't run now, instead standing their ground, refusing to be beaten this time around. "What do you want from me?" I demanded, eying them and standing my ground as well. "What are you and why are you here?"

The one that I assumed was the sister finally spoke up after a while, "You scared us, Mister." That was the first time I heard one of them speak. Her voice was high and squeaky, though not in the annoying sense, but more like the high pitched squeaks of a puppy who's happy to see you. Had I not been so steamed at the moment, they probably would've seemed endearing. They were awfully cute. "That's no way to treat cute little kids."

"Even after the way you treated me?" I questioned, still staring them down. How dare they try and tell me off after how they messed around with my mind. "What was that? First you run away from me, then you trick me for no reason! What did I ever do to you?"

This time, the brother stepped up, "We were looking for someone." He had an oddly-contrived, liverpuddlian accent. I really had nothing else to expect from a cartoon. When people created toons, there was always some kind of racial innuendo attached. People have the power to create anything when it comes to their imaginations, so this doesn't surprise me at all. "We were searching so hard. We didn't know we would get caught. We were already so caught up in it that we forgot to conceal ourselves the way we did up until now." He then looked at his sister who closed her eyes and nodded solemnly. There was something just so strange about them being this sad, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I still stuck to my awareness that this may just be an illusion. Whatever it was, something told me that these creatures weren't ones to frown all the time.

"What are you?.." I knew I should have done something to make the conversation less awkward...but all I could do was stand there, nearly speechless. My grandfather had been an expert in toon psychology, but I knew nothing about or how to handle them. I was left completely in the dark.

Suddenly something unexpected happened. Both the siblings' expressions flipped completely around, becoming massive, toothy grins as opposed to the mopey faces they had displayed just a few seconds earlier. They quickly linked arms and chirped in a theatrical fashion, "We're the Warner siblings!" I could have sworn that right after they said that, I heard a faint whisper that sounded a lot like: "...minus one..."

I paused for a minute as I watch their smiling expressions disappear as quickly as they went back to normal. What was up with these kids? "I meant your names. Like the name for each of you."

"Oh..," seemed like kind of an awkward start.

"I'm Wakko," the brother unenthusiastically waved his hand as he said his name.

"Uh, yeah...and my name is," the sister pauses for a second. "...Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Fran-...Dot."

"Um, okay," I continue. "Assuming you're telling the truth and those are you names, why are you stowing away and how exactly did you get on board?"

"We've been in hiding for a very long time," Dot explained. "Ever since our show was cancelled and Dr. Scratchansniff said we didn't need him anymore, we've moved on to bigger and better things."

"Wait a minute," I put up my hand and stopped her mid-explanation. "You know Dr. Scratchansniff? He's my grandfather! Hold on...that would mean I'm the one you're looking for, right?"

Dot shook her head as a sly smirk began to make it's way across her pale face while Wakko jumped up with his tongue hanging down and exclaimed, "On the dot, Mister!"

I knew it was cliche and silly, but I still couldn't help but double-take. Could it really be them? "M-my grandpa told me back in his later years at Warner Bros. Studios, the network's biggest hit show was Animaniacs...which starred three siblings..."

"That's right, Scratchy Jr.! You're getting it now!" Wakko and Dot shouted excitedly in unison, making an awkward-looking cheerleader pose. My grandfather had told me a lot about his encounters as a toon p-sychiatrist, but he had always said the roughest part was working with these siblings called the Warners.

It was set. I decided I should help these kids as I was the one they were looking for. One of the many things my grandfather hold told me about the Warners is that he had developed a strong bond with them over the years despite the anvils of aggravation they had caused him. I still had many questions, but we weren't safe exposed, "Look, you guys...we can't talk out here. We'll have to go someplace safe where no one can find us. Here." I motioned for them to come. "The only place I can think of is my bunker, but you have to be as quiet as possible so we don't get caught. Can you do that?"

"Oh we can do more than that!" Dot said, keeping that same, devious grin. "Wakko, will you do the honors?" Wakko then reached behind him and pulled out a paintbrush from out of nowhere. It looked like half of the brush was gone. Next, he started painting Dot, making Dot...disappear? It wasn't until he started painting himself that I realized it was invisible paint. I shook my head. I will never get cartoons. After he finished, I motioned silently for them to follow me, wherever they were, and slowly and steadily, we moved to my quarters (me trying to look as nonchalant as possible) so we could talk things out in privacy.


End file.
